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Category: Stallion Reviews

  • Whitsbury Stud Fees 2023- After Due Diligence, what sires will be Showcased as havn’ a greyt price?

    Whitsbury Stud were quick off the mark with their fees for 2023. The stud was founded by the bookmaker William Hill in the 1950’s and is now run by Ed Harper. Their website https://www.whitsburymanorstud.co.uk/index.html is surprisingly basic but they are fortunate that their stallions progeny are doing the business on the track and they don’t need flashy websites 🙂

    Below is my assessment of their published fees for 2023..

    Stallion 2023 fee (2022 fee)

    1. Showcasing £45,000 (£45,000)- (2007 Oasis Dream ex Arabesque by Zafonic)

    Verdict: Slightly Overpriced

    Showcasing retired for a fee of £5000 which was reduced to £4500 for the subsequent three seasons. As he now stands at ten times that price its fair to say he has greatly exceeded expectations. He is now well established in the top division of stallions on these islands.

    He retired as the winner of the Gimcrack, he ran to a similar level when third in the Middle Park. As a three year old he was placed in Duke of York before flopping in his final two starts. He came with a typically strong Juddmonte pedigree and was a half brother to Camacho who has had his moments at stud from low fees.

    His first crop included Cappella Sansevera and Prize Exhibit and his second gave him a Group 1 winner with Quiet Reflection and a Group 2 winner in Tasleet. There weren’t a lot of stars in his third and fourth crops but triple Group 1 winner Advertise led his 2016 crop and an even better horse in Mothaater followed in his 2017 crop along with Soldier’s Call. These sort of results saw his fee hit £55,000 in 2019 and 2020 before dipping back again to £45000.

    In general he is a good sire of sprinters/milers, many of them precocious. For a relatively young sire who started at bargain basement fees, it’s surprising that he has five sons at stud (Capella Sansevera, Tasleet (who sired a Coventry winner in his first crop) and a trio yet to have runners in Advertise, Soldiers Call and Mothaater).

    In 2002, Showcasing had plenty of success with his two year olds. Belbek won the Grp 1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardere and he was backed up by the Group 2 winning fillies Swingalong (Lowther Stakes) and Dramatised (Queen Mary). He has 77 yearlings sold this year for an average of £74000 and a median of £52,500. Given their conception fee was £55,000 commercial breeders weren’t covering costs. It seems that the market appreciates the merits of Showcasing but isn’t willing to pay silly money for his progeny. It is for this reason I rated him as slightly overpriced but he is undoubtedly a very useful sire.

    2. Havana Grey £18,500 (£6000)- (2015 Havana Gold ex Blanc de Chine by Dark Angel)

    Verdict: Bargain

    Ed Harper is quoted as saying they thought long and hard about what fee to set for Havana Grey. To be fair it’s a tricky decision. He set a blistering pace in the first season sires championship with a very impressive 50% winners to runners (40 winners from 80 runners) , 5 stakes winners and 3 Group horses. The only slight reservation was the lack of a real superstar with no winners above Group 3 level and his highest rated horse being the 108 rated Eddie’s Boy.

    This crop of two year olds was conceived off an £8000 fee. His fee dipped to £6500 and then £6000 for his third and fourth season. Doubtless breeders who patronized him then are delighted now. His 2022 yearlings sold for an average of £59000 with a median of £43000, which is a great result off a £6000 fee.

    Havana Grey was a tough two year old running eight times highlighted by a win in the Molecomb and a runner up spot in the Prix Morny to Unfortunately. He ran a similar number of times at three and added the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes and the Group 1 Flying Five both at the Curragh. In third place in that Flying Five was Sioux Nation, his closest rival for the first season title.

    Havana Grey’s pedigree is unremarkable. His sire Havana Gold is doing well but is still available at £12500. Blanc de Chine, his dam by Dark Angel has produced little of note and you need to go well back in the pedigree to find any real quality via Chain Store (dam of Al Bahathri).

    It’s interesting to watch the change in stamina through the generations. Sadler’s Wells progeny had an average winning distance of 11.4f, Galileo 11.2f, Teofilo 10.8f, and Havana Gold’s is 7.8 furlongs . Havana Grey was best at 5 but ran well in the Morny over 6. This is a good example of the figures quoted by Emmeline Hill of Plusvital who estimated that there is a 50% reduction in T:T horses (stamina) in the general population and a 70% increase in C:C (sprinters).

    I believe his 2023 fee is a bargain as for me his runners are greatly exceeding expectations across all metrics. Having 80 runners is hugely impressive from a crop of 116 foals (103 quoted in some reports). Having 40 winners already is hugely impressive. Having 5 stakes winners is impressive. When those results come from a fee of £8000 he gets extra kudos. We obviously don’t know yet whether his runners will train on but it’s encouraging that he trained on well. His subsequent crops will have slightly lesser books of mares so he may dip in terms of profile. However, I think all the signs are that this is a breakthrough sire in the mould of a Dark Angel or Mehmas. I was expecting a £25000 fee and for me he represents a very attractive risk/reward profile. I expect his fee to be comparable with Showcasing in another few years.

    3. Sergei Prokofiev £6,000 (£6000)- (2016 Scat Daddy ex Orchard Beach by Tapit)

    Verdict: Your guess is as good as mine

    Cost $1.1 million as a yearling. He had his moments on the track notably winning a Cornwallis Stakes (Grp 3) and two Listed races but he was short of being top class. UK Breeders must believe that being a son of Scat Daddy is enough to guarantee success as he has attracted bumper books of 150+ in his first two seasons. The rise of No Nay Never and good starts by Sioux Nation and Justify support that theory.

    I would be cautious as even the best sires of sires have plenty of dud sons and Scat Daddy isn’t at that level. Those big books though give him every chance to succeed and he could easily make his mark despite his lack of top class racing ability.

    4. Due Diligence £5,000 (£5,000)- (2011 War Front ex Bema by Pulpit)

    Verdict: Overpriced

    A better racehorse than Sergei Prokofiev, he ran a huge race to be runner up in the Golden Jubilee. Whereas Sergei Prokofiev benefits from the reflected halo effect of Scat Daddy , Due Diligence suffers from the distaste that now exists for sons of War Front. Market prejudices may be irrational but commercial breeders cannot be oblivious to them. Due Diligence had a yearling median of just £7875 in 2021 but this recovered to £16275 in 2022. This was somewhat surprising as he had nothing decent emerge on the track in the year. His overall record is reasonable with 54 winners from 120 starters and 164 foals of racing age as he has struggled for patronage compared to some of his stud mates. To date he has 3 stakes winners led by a pair of Group 3 winners but its difficult to imagine him rising too far up the ranks.

    For me the most interesting thing about this sire is his record with Compton Place mares. He has a pair of Group 3 winners in Good Vibes and Streamline ex Compton Place mares and his highest rated horse on Racing Post Ratings, Diligent Harry is out of a Compton Place mare. In total there are only seven foals of racing age bred on this cross so for nicks fans despite the small sample size this has got to be a really interesting option.

  • The Irish National Stud Accounts: Notes to Note

    The 2020 accounts of the Irish National Stud can be viewed at https://irishnationalstud.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/INS-CONSOL-FY20-Financial-Statements.pdf .

    The accounts themselves don’t contain too many surprises but there are a few interesting revelations contained within the notes to the accounts:

    1. The Directors of the Stud during that period included Jessica Harrington and Mark Weld. They were each paid €8,100 for attending 5 meetings- so it’s a nice gig. As the above note shows, Jessie Harrington and Dermot Weld were selected to train horses owned by the INS in 2020 or 2019. Jessie and Mark Weld may have excused themselves from the deliberations regarding the selection of trainers but it’s a situation that should be avoided. A new policy should be introduced that Board members or their families are precluded from training horses of the stud. It might also be worth asking what tendering process was undertaken before deciding that the best trainers happened to be those sitting at the Board table? The amounts involved are small in the overall context of the stud but the optics in terms of ‘insiders’ are not good…

    The INS could go a step further and deliberately place horses with smaller trainers/regional trainers/younger trainers. The trainers used should be rotated every few years. The loss of a few horses isn’t going to impact on a Dermot Weld or Jessie Harrington but it would be a nice boost for someone at an earlier stage of their career.

    2. The stud has received a derogation from the Dept of Agriculture to avoid listing the number of employees by salary bands, which is not good practice and should be reviewed. This is the same evasion as practiced by the IHRB and prevents proper scrutiny of the appropriateness of the management structure and payscales.

    3. On a positive note, the salary of the Chief Executive Cathal Beale is fully disclosed as is a requirement under the Code of Practice for Commercial State Bodies. This salary amount might attract outrage on Liveline (an Irish chat show in which the callers complain about everything) but it doesn’t seem outlandish for the role and for someone who has brought some energy to the role.

  • Casting an Expert Eye over the Juddmonte Sires…

    If you’ve waited with Bated Breath, for me to cast my Expert Eye over Frankel to check if he is now the King-Man of European stallions, well you are in for treat. This is no mirage or Oasis Dream, this is my review of the Juddmonte sire fees for 2022… 🙂

    1.Bated Breath £15,000 (£12,500) (2007 Dansili ex Tantina by Distant View)

    Verdict: Overpriced

    He was unraced at two, a progressive handicapper at three, before coming into his own at four and five. He won the Group 2 Temple Stakes and was four times a runner up in Group 1’s. Dansili’s progeny having an average winning distance of 9.7f and his dam produced 9 furlong Group 1 winner and underrated sire Cityscape, but this fellow was a pure sprinter equally adept at 5 and 6 furlongs.

    His record to date isn’t particularly exciting. He stood at £8,000 for his first two seasons and has gradually crept upwards to reach a new peak of £15,000 for 2022. A lot of his success is in the US with Gift List and Viadera both notching Grade 2’s in 2021 and Space Traveller being Grade 1 placed. In Europe, Sacred Bridge looked like a potential superstar for Ger Lyons but she flopped when favourite for the Cheveley Park . To date, despite 6 crops having run and mostly 3 figure crops, he has a solitary Group/Grade 1 winner in Viadera. His tally of 20 stakes winners from 619 foals of racing age is a modest 3%. There are better value options on both sides of the Irish sea….

    2.Expert Eye £10,000 (£12,500) (2015 Acclamation ex Exemplify by Dansili)

    Verdict: Fairly Priced

    Entering his fourth season at stud so he will have his first runners next year. He finished his career with a record that included wins in the Vintage Stakes at two, and a Jersey Stakes and a Breeders Cup mile at three. His final tally showed five wins and three places from 10 starts. His Breeders Cup mile wasn’t the best running of that contest and in truth, he was a little short of being a truly top miler (well beaten in the Guineas, 2nd in the Sussex to Lightning Spear and 3rd in the Moulin to Recoletos).

    On the plus side, he comes from a typically deep Juddmonte family and Acclamation’s reputation as a sire of sires has grown again now that Mehmas has joined Dark Angel as a successful sire-son.

    Using any fourth season sire is a risky strategy, but I think he is reasonably priced for the package on offer..

    3.Frankel £200,000 (£175,000) (2008 Galileo ex Kind by Danehill)

    Verdict: Good Value…

    Had a stellar year in 2021, ending Galileo’s reign as champion sire in GB/Ireland and also topping the table in Europe. He was represented by Derby winners in Adayar and Hurricane Lane, top fillies in Alpinista and Snow Lantern, a classic prospect with Inspiral and enjoyed a season total of 8 Group 1 winners (2 of them in Australia). He now has 83 stakes winners from 791 foals of racing age. This equates to 10.4%, which is very impressive in the modern era.

    The future looks even brighter for Frankel. Just as Galileo replaced Sadler’s Wells as the sire of choice for elite mares, Frankel is now poised to assume that role. Dubawi will be 20 next year and access to him is likely to be increasingly restricted. With longevity, Frankel looks well set to add a few more championships to his record. There are still many gaps in his cv (Guineas winners, top two year old colts etc ) but we can expect these to fill in over time. Noble Truth (by Kingman) finished 2nd in the Prix Jean Luc Lagardere to give rise to expectations that he will make his mark as a broodmare sire as well.

    How to assess his fee? His yearling median was ‘only’ £241,500 (Dubawi’s was £446,250) but he is now entering a price point well beyond the typical commercial breeder. Given the year he enjoyed, I expected a bigger hike than £25k. He may only be an option for the super-rich for whom price is less of a consideration but he is a relative bargain at the price…

    4.Kingman £150,000 (£150,000) (2011 Invincible Spirit ex Zenda by Zamindar)

    Verdict: Fairly Priced…

    Had a good year with 20 stakes winners. Palace Pier added 3 new UK Grp 1’s, Domestic Spending won two Grade 1’s in the US and Schnell Meister won a Grp 1 in Japan. In addition, he had 6 Grp 2 winners, 4 in the States, 1 in Japan and Kinross in the UK.

    Kingman’s success to date has been based on his initial crops conceived at £55k. There will be 149 two year olds bred at £75k to run in 2022 and his £150k crops will follow. Despite being a young sire, he will have 5 sons at stud in Europe next year (Palace Pier, Persian King, Calyx, Roseman and Headman).

    Commercially, his yearling median dropped to £178,500 from £236k in 2020. That however is still a good return off a £75k cover. His percentage of black type winners is currently running at 9% (43 from 474 foals) and those figures deservedly place him amidst the elite European sires.

    With the retirement of Palace Pier, he could do with a new star emerging in Europe. Kingman is not cheap at his current price, but it’s reasonable to assume that he will capitalise on his better and bigger books of mares (116 of the 178 mares he covered in 2020 were elite mares) and on that basis he is probably reasonably priced.

    5.Oasis Dream £20,000 (£20,000) (2000 Green Desert ex Hope by Dancing Brave)

    Verdict: Good Value..

    Now entering his 19th season at stud, the National Stakes & Dewhurst winner Native Trail showed he can still produce a top horse. The supporting cast was not as impressive but there were 3 other Group winners and a total of 8 stakes winners in the year.

    He now has lifetime figures of 127 stakes winners from 1631 foals of racing age, which is a very respectable 8%. His yearling median was £69,300 off a covering fee of £30,000 which is also a healthy return.

    He has also done respectably as a broodmare sire with 65 stakes winners produced by his daughters to date. He has a good sire son in Showcasing, along with his share of disappointments as well (Arcano, Morpheus, Naaqoos, Muharrar etc). He won’t be around forever and assuming his fertility remains strong, he represents very good value as a proven, reliable sire.

    Final Word/Future of Juddmonte/What is it worth?

    Khalid Abdullah died in January 2021 casting in doubt the future of the Juddmonte operation. In a statement, the family committed to continuing his legacy but there does not seem to be an obvious successor with the same interest as Prince Khalid. If there are any multi-billionaires looking to buy a seat at the very top table a lock, stock and barrel purchase of Juddmonte would be an excellent place to start. There are plenty of precedents for such moves. In 2008 Sheikh Mohammed paid $460 million for the Inghams operations in Australia and the Aga Khan purchased the Dupré, Boussac and Lagardére bloodstock interests. Juddmonte would be a step up again for any purchaser. It’s interesting to speculate on what it might cost. The broodmare band comprises some 200 mares including the likes of Enable. If we took an average mare value of £400k that would equate to £80 million (a snip). Valuing the stallions is obviously tricky but if we took 500 times their combined stud fees we get a figure of around £200 million with almost all of that accounted for by Frankel and Kingman. This will have to be reduced if there are substantial breeding rights held by third parties. Add in another £100 million or so for the land, yearlings and racing stock and there is a deal to be done for little more than the cost of a struggling Premier League club such as Newcastle… Someone should go for it…..

  • Tally-Ho Stud- leading the chasing pack?…

    Coolmore and Darley dominate the Irish flat stallion ranks and there is quite a gap back to the chasing pack. Tally- Ho stud has made significant progress in recent years and now has claims to be the ‘best of the rest’ in terms of their stallion roster. Their roster would be even more impressive if they hadn’t prematurely lost Red Clubs and Society Rock.

    The stud was founded by Tony and Anne O’Callaghan (a sister of John Magnier). They are commercially astute and know how to maximise their assets. The covering figures for 2021 illustrate that point with Mehmas covering 292 mares, Kodiac 239, Inns of Court 184 and Cotai Glory 113…. A portion of these numbers can be accounted for by foal shares and their own band of mares but they are also clearly very good at sourcing, pricing and making stallions that the market desires.

    Below is my review of the seven stallions on their roster for 2022.

    1.Cotai Glory €8,500 (€5,000) (2012 Exceed and Excel ex Continua by Elusive Quality)

    Verdict: Overpriced (slightly)

    Stayed in training until he was five and retired with a record of 4 wins from 30 starts. He never won above Group 3 level although he did everything but win the Flying Childers (Grp2), as he swerved and unseated his jockey just before the line. He was also only beaten a neck by Profitable in the Kings Stand as a four year old. He cost 75,000 guineas as a yearling which was below the median for Exceed and Excel that year and indicates that he comes from a relatively ordinary distaff line.

    He retired at €6,000 and had 126 foals in his first crop. At the time of writing he has had 84 runners and 34 winners headlined by Atomic Force who won the Grp 2 Prix Robert Papin. He also had an Italian Listed winner and Eldrickjones who was runner up in the Coventry. His good results on the track saw his yearling median jump from €10,894 to €29,216. There are quite a few sons of Exceed and Excel all at stud for under 10k including Bungleinthejungle, Buratino, Kuroshio, James Garfield and Burwaaz. The expectation with them is that they will produce speed and precocity and these are popular traits in the market. Cotai Glory has delivered so far and to be fair, his results warranted a price increase and his yearling median did likewise. My slight quibble is that although he got plenty of winners, I’d have liked to see a bit more quality. He has a smaller crop of two year olds for 2022 (69) and I’m not sure he will still be as in demand when selling yearlings in 2024.

    2.Galileo Gold €7,000 (€5,000) (2013 Paco Boy ex Galiciux by Galileo)

    Verdict: Good Value

    I thought he had an excellent first crop that exceeded expectations. Ebro River won the Phoenix Stakes, Oscula who cost just €4,000 as a yearling won a Grp 3 and System won a Listed race. In addition, there were 3 other horse who picked up placed black type. At the time of writing his record stood at 24 winners from 61 runners from a total crop of 108 foals conceived off a €15,000 opening fee. He will have a smaller second crop of 62 two year olds in 2022 conceived at €10,000.

    His sales returns rebounded after his first crop success with his yearling median increasing from €16,350 to €26,240.

    Galileo Gold won the Vintage Stakes at 2 (Grp 2) but was better at three winning the Guineas on his reappearance and later adding a St James Palace. He was kept in training at four but he managed only one disappointing start in the Lockinge.

    The big concern about Galileo Gold was his pedigree or more particularly his sire Paco Boy . Paco Boy was banished to Turkey and with only 3% stakes winners no tears were shed at his departure.

    Galileo Gold’s female line is solid. He is out of a Galileo mare and Goldream is under his second dam. His fourth dam is Floripedes, the dam of Montjeu.

    Paco Boy didn’t stop Galileo Gold being a top class horse and he doesn’t seem to be stopping him as sire. I think he is underrated and represents good value.

    3.Inns of Court €5,000 (€5,000) (2014 Invincible Spirit ex Learned Friend by Seeking the Gold)

    Verdict: Undecided

    A useful sort from 5 furlongs to a mile, he won his only start and two, stood up to 4 seasons of training and compiled a decent looking record of 7 wins and 7 places for 18 starts. His best runs were probably when just touched off in the Prix Jacques le Marois (8f) as a three year old and in the Prix de la Foret (7f) as a four year old. He won the Prix du Gros-Chene (Grp 2) over 5 furlongs as a five year old so he was clearly versatile regarding trip. His female line is good, with his grand-dam Lune D’Or winning the Premio Lydia Tesio when it carried Grp 1 status and she in turn was dam of top class Japanese performer Fierment.

    There are no shortage of sons of Invincible Spirit to choose from in Europe (19 listed on stallionguide.com). Invincible Spirit is described as a successful sire of sires based on Kingman and I Am Invincible in Australia but he has had his fair share of disappointments as well (Born to Sea, Charm Spirit, Shalaa) and others who were somewhere in between (Lawman, Mayson). Just as it would be a mistake to dismiss Galileo Gold because of Paco Boy, it would also be a mistake to assume a son of Invincible Spirit will succeed. I certainly don’t think as an unproven sire he warranted 184 mares this year but arguably such demand shows he is competitively priced.

     4. Kessaar €5,000 ( 5,000) (2016 Kodiac ex Querulous by Raven’s Pass size 15.3h

    Verdict: Fairly Priced

    Retired at the end of his two year old career. He ranks as one of the better sons of Kodiac on the track winning the  Grp 2 Mill Reef Stakes and the Grp 3 Sirenia Stakes. His overall record was three wins from 7 starts and he was 4th on his only run in a Grp 1 (the Criterium International).

    Sons of Kodiac are very fashionable right now with Ardad, Kodi Bear and Coulsty all delivering good results and he does seem to have a better strike rate with his sons than many other sires (including the previously mentioned Invincible Spirit). This may account for Kessaaar’s yearlings selling well in 2021 with a median of €28,152 off an €8,000 initial fee. Kessaar will have his first runners in 2022 so there is added risk/potential reward to using him next year . He come from an unremarkable female line but so are many of the early sire sons of Kodiac. If you think he is going to be the next son of Kodiac to out-perform then the fee he probably represents a fair bet at the price.

    5. Kodiac €65,000 ( €65,000) (2001 Danehill ex Rafha by Kris size 16. 0 1/2h

    Verdict: Overpriced

    The Kodiac story/fairytale is well known now. He never won a stakes race, raced until he was five and only got his chance at stud because of the first crop success of his half brother Invincible Spirit. He started at €5,000 and was available at €4,000 in his third and fourth seasons. Despite this, he has become the golden goose that has brought Tally-Ho stud to new heights. He is an ultra reliable sire of two year old winners and he is now acquiring a reputation as a sire of sires. He has attracted very large books at €65k since 2019 and €50k since 2017.

    The downside is that his percentages are not great for a horse at his fee. He has now had 1586 foals of racing age and 77 Stakes winners, working out as a modest 5%. His tally of only 6 Group 1 winners is underwhelming and to me he has plateaued despite getting better mares. Commercially, if anyone is paying the list price and not on a foal share then there is not a lot of profit in him at his listed fee. His yearling median was €92,850 in 2021 but was only €54,766 in 2020. He will be 21 in the next covering season and I would have thought something around €50k would be more appropriate at this stage.

    6. Mehmas €50,000 ( €25,000) (2014 Acclamation ex Lucina by Machiavellian size 16.0 h)

    Verdict: Overpriced

    He stood at €7,500 in 2020 so the hike to €50,000 tells you that he has made a very impressive start to his stud career. He has obvious parallels with Dark Angel, both being by Acclamation out of Machiavellian mares and retired at the end of their two year old career. Dark Angel won a Middle Park (Grp 1) and Mill Reef Stakes (Grp 2) , Mehmas won the Richmond and July Stakes (Grp 2) and was third in the Middle Park. Comparing stats and accounting for book sizes, Mehmas has made a more impressive start. He has two Grp 1 winners in his first crop (Supremacy and Going Global) and an impressive 12 Stakes winners from the 141 foals in that crop. He has continued the good work with his two year olds of 2021 which included three Grp 2 winners (Lusail, Malvath and Caturra) .His yearlings median in 2021 jumped to €65,242 a great return off a €10,000 fee.

    He has a smaller crop of two year olds next year 57 foals so his star may dim a little . I thought he deserved a chunky hike but felt that €40k might have been better. Commercially the massive/excessive crops (292 mares covered this year ) are bound to have an impact at the sales and I don’t see huge upside at his €50k price. To move to the next level commercially he will have to start showing he can get classic prospects rather than just two year olds/sprinters and a wait and see approach might be more prudent at his new price.

    7. Starman €17,500 ( na) (2017 Dutch Art ex Northern Star by Montjeu size 16.0 h)

    Verdict: Overpriced

    Unraced at two, ‘only’ and only a Listed winner at three he showed his best form at four. This year he won a Duke of York Stakes (Grp 2)before an impressive performance in the July Cup that earned him champion sprinter status. He failed to follow up that success though, finishing 3rd in the Prix Maurice De Gheest and a short head second to Emaraaty Ana in the Haydock Sprint Cup. His final career stats were 8 runs, 5 wins and two places.

    His pedigree is reasonable with its share of black type but Starman is easily the best in the family. His dam was a modest winner over 10f at Bath who also produced a stakes performer by Kodiac. The second dam was unraced but produced two Stakes horses.

    Dutch Art at times promised to be an important sire through the likes of Slade Power, Garswood and Mabs Cross but he proved unreliable both with his fertility and with his runners on the track. His sire son Garswood failed to make the grade as a sire and was sold for just 40,000 guineas this summer and previously a first crop son Caspar Netscher suffered fertility issues.

    With doubts over his lack of precocity, his relatively modest page and his unproven sire line I think he is too risky at that price…

    Final Word:

    With Kodiac entering the twilight of his career, Tally-Ho are fortunate to have another money making machine emerge in Mehmas. One criticism of the stud is that they don’t participate in the ITM Irish Stallion Trail. It’s obviously an inconvenience to open the doors but it’s the right thing to do to help showcase the industry to racing and bloodstock fans. It’s disappointing that Tally-Ho have opted out as they could well afford it…..